I have said this before, but the first Sennheiser Momentum headphones still ranks very high for me when it comes to audio quality and overall experience, especially when compared to what was available in the market at that time. Almost a decade on, Sennheiser continues to maintain the uniqueness and luxury of the Momentum tag even though it is now available in wireless and even as truly wireless earphones. The Momentum 4 is no different.
The Sennheiser Momentum 4 has a very straightforward design. Nothing that flashes out or draws attention to you. The headband has fabric with a rough finish that is quite unique, at least for the headphones I have seen. The earcups are very comfortable, especially when you wear them for long hours. There is just one button under the right cup to switch on the noise cancellation. All other controls are on the touch-sensitive ear cup. Simple, but very functional and you are not trying to memorise what each button stands for.
I have had some superb noise-cancelling experiences recently from Apple’s AirPods Pro 2 and Google’s Pixel Buds Pro. So much so that it will be hard to please to me with something mediocre now. By those standards, the Momentum 4 has decent noise cancellation. It could cut the drone of the ceiling fan in the living room easily. Interestingly, when I stood directly under the fan it completely muted the whirr, which was interesting.
Using the Sennheiser app you can adjust exactly how you want your noise cancellation, or just switch to the transparency mode where you can also hear what is happening around you. Actually, you can do this on the earphone too by pinching to zoom in our out on the earcups, which is a very unique feature. And you can also just switch on adaptive noise cancellation and let the headphone figure out when to go hyper.
But the noise cancellation is not as powerful as the noise-cancelling earphones I use to mute out the external world so that I can focus on my work.
But when you are investing in a Sennheiser all these features are almost incidental. What you want to listen to is pure music that is rich and balanced. And that is exactly what you get with the Momentum 4.
As I listened to the now-controversial Varaha Roopam from Kantara, the versatility of the Momentum 4 was evident. In the first few seconds the composition has a mix of extreme highs and lows, the headphones handled both so well it flowed so smoothly into the vocals that came after. Even with the Bass Boost switched off in the equaliser on the app, the experience was intense.
The headband has fabric with a rough finish that is quite unique, at least for the headphones I have seen. The earcups are very comfortable, especially when you wear them for long hours. (Image credit: Nandagopal Rajan/ Indian Express)
For something more mellow like Yeh Honsla from Dor, the kind of music I prefer to unwind, I felt the Momentum was more in its element. This vocal rich song was exactly in contrast to the Kantara number. This felt like a velvet wrap over my ears, one that kept me cosy and snug. Going more towards the vocals, Bombay Jayashri’s Gopala Gokula reaffirmed my feeling that this is among the more balanced, natural headphones for the purists out there.
There are also some new features that add value to users like the sound zones, made popular by Sony. This lets you create presets for locations you frequent like office and home. But the best feature is the ability of the app to make your voice on calls sound more natural by giving you more control. No more tinny, sharp voices when you are using the Momentum for calls.
The battery life is good and can last a whole week you are using this casually for music only. If you are using this for work, you will need to charge it every second day or so.
At Rs 34,990, the Sennheiser Momentum 4 is among the more premium headphones you can invest in. You will buy this if you are a purist who likes to get their music with very little corruption. This is one of the best-sounding headsets out there, with good noise cancellation.
